I walked towards class the next day, the sky gray again. Rain all week, apparently.
"Jpeg!"
God, no, maybe if I just ignored her and kept walking, I wouldn't have to deal with this shit so early in the morning.
But of course, Val caught up to me, a smile on her face. A boy walked next to her, and he had on the Crows pin. What an amazing morning, truly made me want to have a tasty bowl of Cheerios and bleach.
"What?" I said.
"This is Cole," Val introduced. "Cole, this is Cor."
"Hi," Cole said.
"Yea, hey. What do you want?" I asked Val.
"To introduce you guys, duh. That's why I just walked up to you and introduced you," Val said.
"Okay? That was pointless, but thanks for the waste of time," I said.
Val elbowed me. "Friends are good to have, Cor."
"I know. But this was still a waste of time," I said.
Look, I got it. Friendship and relationships were important. I wasn't edgy like Kieran, who probably said things like social interaction scared him. But I didn't want anything to do with the people I was stuck with, and I certainly didn't need to grow that circle of trouble with even more kids involved with all this stuff.
"He's a little grumpy," Val told Cole.
"He's also standing right here and can hear you," I reminded.
"Yea, I know," Val said. "So anyways, Cole, Cor is a little hard to warmup to at first, but he'll come around."
"Or he'll walk away," I said, speeding my pace.
"See you at lunch!" Val called after me.
I entered the building and went towards my first class. Kieran and Mia were talking in the hallway, so I went up to them. If I went into the room too early, I was worried Jamison would be in there and try to talk to me.
"Val is taking on her role a little too well," I said as I joined them.
"She's good with people," Mia said. "I'm not sure how you're going to pull this off, though."
"Thanks for the confidence," I said.
"Cor."
As soon as we heard Jamison's voice, I could feel the tension in the air. Mia gave a cold look in Jamison's direction, and Kieran's face took on that terrifyingly blank expression he got when he was going to do the Doctor's work.
I faced Jamison and he held the textbook out to me. He was a little stiffer than before, well aware of the tension swallowing us.
"Thanks for letting me use it." He forced a smile, as natural as he could manage it.
I held up my hand. "Keep it. I don't want to carry it around all day. I'll take it back at the end of the day."
Jamison's smile turned rueful. "Damn, I was hoping I wouldn't have to keep it all day."
"Your hopes are dashed," I said, and nodded towards the classroom. "Just drop it on my desk during our last class."
YOU ARE READING
A Murder Of Crows [boyxboy]
Teen FictionCor Sander wants nothing to do with the attacks happening around Crowe Academy, but that doesn't mean he's not part of them. Begrudgingly part of the group known as the Collectors, Cor helps a shady man run an even shadier business- and send a messa...